International statistics

02 March 2015 à 11:21

French films at the international box office: January 2015

2015 looks set to be a promising year for French films in international theaters. In January, the major French hits of 2014 were released in new markets and one EuropaCorp production enjoyed a successful international debut.

After a triumphant year for French films in 2014, with 111 million admissions registered in international theaters, 2015 has got off to an excellent start. With no less than 8 films topping the 100,000 admissions mark in January, including three titles that had registered more than 1 million spectators abroad in 2014, the start to the year has also seen good performances by three new films that were released the previous month.

Review of a selection of standout French titles in January 2015

Beauty and the BeastBeauty and the Beast has enjoyed an excellent debut in Mexico! Ranked as the third most successful French film abroad in 2014, this film began its Mexican run in 3rd place at the box office. Released by Zima on 264 prints, it attracted 333,000 spectators in its opening week and achieved by far the highest number of spectators per print in this period. This is good news for this market, in which French productions have already accumulated close to 1 million admissions in January 2015, thanks in particular to the fine results of Paradise Lost (460,000 admissions in 2 weeks), which was released by the same distributor. Beauty and the Beast is set to become the 4th French-language production to have registered more than 500,000 spectators in Mexico, with The Intouchables (Gussi - Artecinema) standing out as the only title in this category to have topped 1 million spectators (1.6 million admissions). Beauty and the Beast tallied a total of 5 million admissions in 32 international markets at the end of January.

La Famille BélierAfter a successful launch in French-language European markets, La Famille Bélier has arrived in Latin America, debuting in the top 10 at the box office in Argentina, where its distributor Alfa Films registered 32,000 admissions in 2 weeks, with a maximum of 35 prints released. It was, however, in Colombia that the film registered its most impressive debut in the region. Released by Cine Colombia on an ambitious 99 prints, the film by Éric Lartigau pulled in 125,000 spectators in its opening week and has clocked up 362,000 after three weeks on the screens. This is an excellent score in Colombia, which for the past two years has been the 3rd most active export market for French films in the region, after Mexico and Brazil, but ahead of Argentina. Since UniFrance began regularly monitoring theatrical statistics in Colombia, only 6 majority French productions have succeeded in attracting more than 300,000 spectators, two of which were French-language films. The Intouchables (Cine Colombia) registered 503,000 admissions in Colombia, while, Lucyamassed 721,000 admissions last year, which was the best performance by a French film to date in this country. By the end of January, La Famille Bélier had also registered 69,000 spectators in Brazil (Paris Filmes), 6,000 in Uruguay (Jelsi S.A.), and a surprisingly high 600 admissions in Bolivia (Manfer Films), thus confirming the film's international export potential. 2015 is expected to bring continued success to this film, with its release scheduled in around 50 markets in upcoming months. The figures for late January show La Famille Bélier with a total of 755,000 admissions registered in 9 foreign markets, with its eagerly awaited debut in Germany (Concorde Filmverleih) and Italy (Bim Distribuzione) coming up in March.

Taken 3Taken 3has got off to a strong start in foreign theaters. After Lucydisplaced Taken 2as the most popular French film around the world in more than 20 years, EuropaCorp's latest installment in the Taken series clearly sets the tone of what is to come, as it has already jumped to the top of the box office in a number of markets. In South Korea (Fox), it has clocked up 2 million spectators since its release early January on a maximum of 616 screens, and has now outscored Lucy (Universal, 1.9 million admissions), thus becoming the 3rd French film to cross this threshold, joining the ranks of... Taken(Studio 2.0, 2.4 million) and Taken 2 (Fox, 2.3 million)! In Great Britain (Fox Searchlight (UK), it pulled in 2.6 million admissions in January, with the number of theaters reaching a maximum of 501, after a debut that was twice as successful that of Lucy, but slightly less impressive than that of Taken 2 in 2012. Taken 3has also posted impressive scores in other markets, with over 1 million admissions recorded in Mexico (Fox), Brazil (Fox), Germany (Universum Film), and Australia (Fox) by the end of January.

Bolstered by strong media coverage for its highly awaited launch in the USA and English-speaking Canada, where it is also handled by Fox,Taken 3raked in $83 million in January, attracting over 10 million spectators. It is now the 6th most popular French film in North America since 1994, after The Emperor's Journey (Warner Independent Pictures Inc., 12.8 million admissions). Leading this list are Taken (Fox, 20.7 million admissions) and Taken 2(Fox, 175 million).

Taken 3 is currently posting excellent results across the globe, although its scores are not as impressive as those of the two preceding installments. While Taken (31.8 million admissions abroad) and Taken 2 (47.8 million) were surprisingly successful in their ability to maintain a high attendance level in a large number of countries several weeks after their release, Taken 3 shows more typical behavior usually associated with blockbusters, in which the vast majority of its admissions figures are concentrated on the first two weeks of the film's international run. With 25.4 million admissions registered at the end of January in 38 international markets, Taken 3 now ranks as the 6th most popular French production around the world since 1994.